Crashing
by BBirdy
Summary: Ulrish gets into a car crash, waking up without his memories. What happened? Will he ever recover?


I couldn't move, noise rang around my ears. I didn't know want was going on. Glass shattered around my ears, cutting my cheeks. But I didn't feel the cuts.

Where was I?

CRASH

Another cascade of glass shattered. Screams filled my ears and someone in the far distance yelled someone's name.

HONK

Many car horns now called out, commuters who were late for work. Those blessed people who weren't sitting under a pile of wreckage.

"My brother!" a female voice screamed. "Someone call an ambulance I can't find my brother!"

Sounds came in as if through an old telephone. Everything in my head sounded like a fish bowl.

"Please!" the girl kept yelling, her voice becoming hoarse. "I don't have a cell phone someone please help!"

The car horns began to fade. Men's voices invaded asking where her brother was. I hoped she could find him.

Quiet sobbing reached my ears. Looking down I saw a small child in my arms. I wasn't sure if it was a girl or a boy. He or she was about nine. They hugged my tee shirt, completely unharmed with someone else's blood slowly dripping onto them. Was that mine?

"Hey," I smiled at the child in my arms. "You're gonna be ok."

They looked up at me and I saw it was a little boy, ten, maybe younger. He looked at me and nodded.

"What's your name buddy?"

"Hiroki," he whispered.

"Hi, Hiroki" I ruffled his hair, trying to keep his mind off of the silver car that just seemed to be getting closer. "How old are you?"

"I'm gonna be ten in three weeks," he smiled proudly.

"All grown up," I laughed, my lungs beginning to ache and my ribs jabbing me. "so Hiroki. Your sister is out there, what's her name?"

"You know Yumi. She's your best friend."

"Right," I smiled again.

Outside more yelling commenced. The car above us began to move, slowly at first, then faster. A sharp jab in my leg caused me to cry out. Glancing down I saw both my legs had been crushed under the back of the car. But that didn't matter. We had to get this sweet little kid out from under there.

"One… two… three!" the car moved and I held Hiroki close. The car was shoved aside and gentle snow began falling around us.

Hiroki clabbored out of my arms and I could hear the gentle sobbing of his older sister. I smiled, my joy at having that small family back together much greater than the numbness now spreading though all my limbs.

"Kid, you've got to keep your eyes open!" Someone shouted close next to me. Were they talking to me? Did it matter? All I wanted to do was go to sleep. Maybe then I would remember this Yumi girl Hiroki had told me about.

Someone grabbed my arm and the female voice was shouting again. "You've got to stay awake!" she shouted. Her touch brought my eyes open slightly.

"Is Hiroki ok?" I asked, my vocal cords slowly fading out.

"He's going to be fine. Are you?"

"Dunno," I said.

"That's good keep him talking the ambulance will be here any minute," one of the men spoke somehere off to my left.

"You've got to stay with me," the girl took my face in her hand. "How do you feel tell me exactly."

"Everything's kind of fuzzy. My head feels wierd like something is missing." she brushed my cheek with her finger, a very intamate geture for someone I didn't know.

"It's alright," she soothed. Her voice was familiar... but I couldn't place from where. "Listen to me. we are going to get you all fixed up."

"We?" I slurred.

"Yes, I'll be here with you every step of the way."

"That's very kind of you, but you dont have to." I struggled to keep my eyes open and my words legible.

"Of course I do."

"But I don't even know you," my vision cleared enough for me to see her face properly. she had dark hair, pulled into a pony tail behind her head. She looked around fourteen of fifteen but I couldn't be sure. Her skin was like alabaster or ivory, pale and flawless. she had small pink lips, slightly blue from what seemed to be cold. But what held my gaze was her dark piercing eyes. They drew me in and held on tight. there was no way I could fade with those eyes watching me.

"Of course you know me," she smiled, and her eyes began to glisten with tears dulling their sharp edge. I didn't like it. Those eyes had to be strong and anything but that strength scared me. "You've known me for years."

I shook my head, my neck refusing to work properly. Jerky movements now outlined

me existence. not worked smoothly as if the world was losing definition. "I've never seen you before."

And then those amazing dark brown eyes shut, tears spilling from either side. And I knew no more.

* * *

When I woke again loud noises startled me. Warm hands held mine in tight embrace. As I slowly pulled myself out of unconsciousness lips touched my hand.

PLUNK

Tears hit both my hand and the ground. I felt something else covering my face. People rushed around me all shouting things at the same time. A small child voice cried.

"Hiroki?" I asked, my voice sounding like a bullfrog.

"Ulrich?" who was he talking to? Was Ulrich the name of one of the doctors around me? "Are you awake?" this one was directed at me and I turned me head, cords tugging with me. There was an oxygen mask on my face.

"Would I ask for you if I wasn't awake?" I smiled, coughing a little. My insides went into spasms of pain and I pulled my hands away from whoever held them to grip my chest. I felt tears slip out of the corners of my eyes and I tried to take slow deep breaths.

"Ask him questions," said the girls voice. "Keep his attention away from the doctors."

"Hey," Hiroki turned back to me and grinned, crooked teeth gleeming in the flickering lights. "What's your favorite color?"

I tried to remember. It seemed like a long time since I had seen colors. "Green, not crayon green more like a forest green." Images of a forest filled my mind, long lazy afternoons climbing trees and burying myself in their warms care calmed my racing heart.

"So what's your favorite food?" Hiroki kept talking, his high child's voice filling me with a sense of stability. If this kid could keep a calm head then I would be ok.

"I like raspberries," I said. the thought of the tangy sweet fruit covered my tongue.

"Cool, so do like raspberry pie?"

A scene played across my lids as I blinked. Girls hands pulling a pie out of the over, black crust crumbling onto the bright red and pink surface.

"Yea I like raspberry pie when it isn't burnt."

A small noise caught my attention. It was the girl with the dark eyes... Yumi right? she had gasped slightly, as if remembering some kind of appointment.

I could see Hiroki scrunching his eyebrows, trying to think of more questions. But I had a question for him.

"Hiroki, what's my name?"

"You're Ulrich," he said without hesitation. He said it like 'oo- rick,' and it sounded weird.

"What's my middle name?"

"I think it's Lucas," Hiroki looked back at the girl who nodded.

"And my last name?"

"Stern."

"Ulrich Lucas Stern," I said. that didn't sound like me.

"What color is my hair?" I asked.

"Brown, it used to be really light and now it's darker."

"What color are my eyes?"

"Brown."

"How old am I?"

"You're fifteenth birthday was last month."

"What month is it?"

"January."

"What day is it?"

"It's late on the nineteenth. It's a Saturday."

I nodded. There was something I was forgetting. Something deep in the back of my head where I couldn't quite reach was pining for my attention. It had something to do with...

Something was beeping loudly was distracting my thoughts. Doctors were yelling about a heart monitor. The ambulance was coming to a stop, the thing I was lying on was shaking and once again I passed out.

* * *

When I woke up it was quiet. I didn't bother opening my eyes. I knew where I was. I was in the hospital. Where this hospital was and how far away it was from where I belonged I had no idea.

I also had no idea how long I had been there. Was it still January nineteenth or was it hours, days or months since? I had no idea and I couldn't find the will to care.

The faint drone of a heart monitor marked a steady beat. My upper body began to feel fuzzy, my lower body I just couldn't feel.

Voices in the distance pulled me from my half-awake state.

"-see him yet!" The voice was blurry and distant.

"He is not awake." This was an adult voice.

"How is he?" This was a tinny boy's voice.

"Are you family?"

"We're the closest thing he's got!"

"I have here that he does have parents."

"They're in another country, they don't care about him!"

"Young man you are being unfair and extremely rude. I would ask you to return when the young master is awake."

Footsteps approached my bed and I opened my eyes to see a clean, pristine room with electronic devices attached to almost every inch of my arm. The entire room was pure white and when I glanced out the window the only thing I could see was the top of the trees, blanketed in new snow.

"Good morning Ulrich," the doctor, a kind looking man with brown hair and thick glasses.

"Morning," I nodded.

"How do you feel?"

"Numb."

"I just want to ask you a few questions and then you may go back to sleep." I nodded again, absently. He sat down in the hard chair next to my bed with a clipboard on his knees. "What do you remember about last night?"

"I opened my eyes and that girl was screaming and Hiroki was crying. I got him to calm down, then the car moved. Hiroki got out and I blacked out."

"That's all?" I nodded. "Do you remember the crash itself?"

"No," I sunk back into my bed and grouped for anything about the crash. Everything came up as in high definition television hung under my eyelids.

Dark blue metal twisted around me and I was thrown back, glass smashing around my head. Everything became blurry then, my heartbeat was loud in my ears and my breath was heavy. A terrified child screamed and all my instinct launched my toward him. Another blast of glass shot me to the kid and I hunched over him as glass, metal and debris slashed my back to bits.

I wrenched my thoughts out of that dark place and the doctor eyed me. "Did you remember any more?"

"No," I lied, "my head just hurts." And that part wasn't a lie. The longer I stayed awake the more my brain seemed to be throbbing.

"You suffered severe head trauma, it's a miracle you have enough coherence to talk." The doctor finished writing down what I had said and smiled. "Now you get some sleep young man. I will see you later."

The doctor was acting a lot like a father... did my father act like this?

And that was when it hit me. I really couldn't remember anything. I had though last night had been a relapse that the injuries or the shock had sent me into a state of numbness. But I felt all there and for the life of me nothing seemed to open up to me past last night. That little boy, Hiroki, was the first face that I could remember seeing. Somewhere deep in me I felt both panic and a broken sadness welling. Who was I?

Before I could start to panic to much the doctor stood pressing a button on one of the endless monitors and I felt myself getting drowsy. In a few more moments I was out.

My dreams were hazy, something about a monster. I was wearing a strange orange and black uniform and in my hands I held sharp swords. The monster in front of me was ten feet tall at least and looked like a cube with legs.

Distant voices rang in my head and when I turned a boy with blonde hair and a cattail was running toward me, arrows shooting out of his wrist. He yelled something to a person on the other side of me and when I turned I saw that girl. It was Hiroki's older sister, Yumi. She was wearing a pink and black uniform, a sharp edged fan in each hand. As she past she smiled at me and I couldn't help but smile back.

A voice rang around me, deeper but obviously a child. It gave me an order and I followed it. Running forward I stabbed the cube monster in the eye. With a blast it exploded and another girl was reaching a hand out. This one had bright pink hair and a warm smile.

I took her hand and I stood. The other two stood by my side as more cubes ran forward. But I wasn't scared; in fact I was excited, almost eager for the attack. With an order form the voice in the air we ran forward.

The scene faded out of my range and I blinked. The white hospital room smelled strange now, like flowers in a warm breeze mixed with a darker sent, like ocean air. It was perfume and some sort of cologne. I blinked again and saw two people.

The first was a woman with light brown hair and a sorrowful expression. She sat, staring out the window as if waiting for sunshine that would never come.

The second was a man with a stern, but concerned face. He sat far apart from the woman and the tension between them made me think that they were lovers or siblings in the midst of a fight. I watched them both for a moment, my eyes slowly adjusting to the bright room. The woman's breaths came in puffs and her eyes were bright red. She had been crying, either very hard or for a very long time. Or maybe both.

The man stood there, bored stiff as if he were a business man only there for his paycheck. But despite his posture and his often time checks, dark lines were etched into the side of his eyes.

We sat in silence for a second before I opened my mouth. "Hello?" I asked. I had no idea who these people were but judging from the lightning speed turns they knew who I was.

"Ulrich!" the woman cried, she was by my side in a second, gripping my hand in hers and I could see it was taking a momentous for her not to throw herself on me. Tears sprung at the corners of her eyes.

The man came more slowly, not bothering to sit down next to me. "I'm glad you woke up." he said stiffly.

I looked at them both for a second praying they would see my confusion so I wouldn't have to tell them I had no idea who they were. They didn't catch it and they both looked at me with expectancy.

"I'm sorry..." I apologized, slowly pulling my hand out of the woman's. "But who are you?"

The woman broke down completely, tears spilling down her heavily makeup covered cheeks. The man showed the first true emotion I had seen come out of him; shock. I didn't know that face but the fury lines in his eyebrows and mouth were enough to tell me it was an expression not well known on this face.

He recovered first, "we're your parents."

I nodded. "Okay."

The woman looked up at me, black eyeliner streaks darkening her pale cheeks. "Just okay?" she asked her voice gentle and fragile. "You have nothing to say to us? You don't even remember us? Then we tell you that you are our son and all you can say is okay?" her voice didn't rise and it didn't sink. It was as if all the emotions of shock and sorrow were simply stuck on her face and nothing could change.

"What else do you want me to say...?" for a moment I considered calling her mother, to ease some suffering I couldn't tell she was going through but I couldn't bring myself to call her anything of the sort.

"I don't know..." she said. And with that she stood and walked around the bed before flinging herself into the arms of the man. His eyes glistened with unshed tears which I didn't think was possible on such a solemn face.

"Come on dear," he stroked the top of her head. Then he turned to me. "The doctors inform me that you will be well enough to continue school in a couple of weeks. I believe we are both in agreement you will not be coming home until your summer vacation?"

I nodded. I didn't know this scared man and his wimpy wife but I didn't want them to be my parents. And I definitely didn't want to be around them for longer than I had to.

"Alright then. We will see you next summer holiday then." His brows became stiff and his wife walked out. "We will not be celebrating your birthday young man. The hospital bill will be your present. Don't even think you can coerce your mother into sending you money." The hospital door slammed behind him and I sunk into my bed.

For a moment I sat in silence before my shock and my fear turned into panicked tears. How was that my family? My mother was a weeping idiot and my father was a horrible control freak who hated me.

The next couple hours I tried to avoid my thoughts with the television on the wall but every time I thought about my visitors I had to choke down sobs of despair.

Later that afternoon I heard voices outside my door. It was the doctor's voice and a few other kids.

"You are welcome to go in but I do not believe he is awake," said the doctor. I turned off the television and lay back in the bed, listening.

"That's ok," said a gentle female voice.

"Is he still..." this was, surprisingly, Yumi. "Forgetful?"

"Yes, nothing has changed, but his physical injuries are healing quickly."

"What injuries did he sustain?" asked a male voice, a deeper voice that sounded a bit like he had a head cold.

"Many cuts from broken glass all over his body, major ones on his left shoulder and mid waist. His arms were nearly slashed to bits. Two of his ribs were broken, causing intense strain on his lungs. His legs were bruised badly, under the knees sustained hairline fractures along his tibia and fibula. Along with a concussion and heavy internal bleeding." When he finished there was a stunned silence as I glanced down my shirt. Bruises blossomed under my visible skin. Bandages blanketed nearly every inch of me. And there was also a strange spattering along my left shoulder and upper arm.

"Um," a higher boy's voice intuited the silence. "Did you see that pattern along his left shoulder?"

"What pattern?" The doctor asked. I could almost hear him shake his head. "You children may go in but if you are disrespectful or cause him any distress I will forced to send you away."

The door handle was turned and I closed my eyes, pretending to be asleep. Quiet footsteps and whispering voices came to my ears.

"Wow," this was the higher boy's voice. "He looks terrible."

"Odd," reprimanded the girl I didn't know, "that isn't very nice."

"Does it matter?" Asked the kid. "Yumi said he has memory problems. She said he even forgot his name on the ambulance."

"How much did he forget Yumi?" asked the other boy, the one with the head cold.

"Not much..." said Yumi. "He was talking to Hiroki with some clarity."

Was she lying to her friends? Was she trying to protect them from the fact that I couldn't remember anything? Or did she honestly not know that I had forgotten everything about my past?

They continued to talk in hushed voices and the hidden pain in them hurt my hear.t I couldn't stand the fear radiating off them. Giving into my thumping heart I opened eyes and sat up.

The high voiced boy who had spoke had a purple sweat shirt and short blonde hair with a purple streak. The look didn't suit him and I had the feeling his hair had been longer.

They hadn't seen me move, all trapped in their own conversation.

I turned from the strange looking boy to a different boy. He was smaller, bulkier, and with a large pair of glasses.

The girls stood in the corner and I saw Yumi, her hair was down now and the long black curtain hid her pale peaked face. Dark circles hung under those piercing blue eyes and I wondered if I had been the reason for the lack of sleep.

My eyes glanced over her quickly, trying not to make her uncomfortable. From her I turned to a girl with pink hair. With a small jolt I realized she looked a lot like the person from my dreams last night. I knew this girl. But her name…

"Aelita?" I asked. I was practically sure that was her name. It couldn't be anyone else's name could it?

They all turned to me, eyes wide.

"Ulrich," Aelita smiled.

The higher voiced boy sat next to my bed and grinned. "How are you good buddy?"

They all waited for me to say something but I only looked to Aelita. I knew her. I knew I could trust her. I didn't know anything of these other kids.

She came and toed Odd out of his seat. "Ulrich," she caught my attention, those sky blue eyes were warm. "How have you been?"

"I-I," how did I say that I didn't remember all of these people around me. How did I tell people who cared about me that I no longer remembered if I cared about them?

"Ulrich," the pink haired girl was gentle, her voice soft and sisterly. "You can tell us. It's ok."

I looked up at them and I saw Yumi pull away, her hands covering tearful eyes.

"The doctor told you I hurt my head right?"

The boys nodded.

"It's a bit worse than he said. I…" I took a deep breath "I don't remember anything. I can't remember any of you. My parents came in earlier and I didn't remember them…"

"But you knew Aelita!" the skinny purple hooded boy protested.

I glanced at her and shook my head. "I have no idea how I remembered her name."

A movement out of the corner of my eye. Yumi was shaking with sobs.

"So..." said the boy with the purple streak, "since you can remover we'll just have to introduce ourselves again. Won't be that hard. We were best friends instantly."

"Sure," laughed Aelita. Then she turned back to me. "So how much do you remember exactly?"

My dream with the block monster and the strange uniforms shot through my head, sending pain into my temples. "I'm not sure. I remember waking up in the crash holding Hiroki and then seeing Yumi. But I'm not sure of anything else. Like I said. I don't know why I remember your name."

"Well," she spoke gently. "You can ask questions if you'd like. We're going to try and help you remember as much as you can."

"Thank you."

"Maybe this memory problem won't be so bad," Odd offered. "You're being polite."

"Odd just shut up."

**Another story from the bottom of my documents page. Thanks for reading! **


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